Police appeal court decision to allow Qatargate suspect to return to work in Netanyahu’s office

Police appeal a court decision to allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aide Jonatan Urich, a key suspect in the so-called “Qatargate” scandal, to meet and work with the premier.

Police write that his “actions were done against the interests of the prime minister’s office and the state.”

Police add that evidence indicates Netanyahu was not aware of Urich’s dealings with Qatar.

Last week Judge Menachem Mizrahi, of the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, dismissed the police’s request to extend various restrictions placed on Urich after his initial house arrest in May.

Urich, along with Netanyahu’s former spokesman Eli Feldstein, spearheaded a pro-Qatari public relations campaign to cast the Gulf state in a positive light ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, hosted in Doha, and reportedly continued his PR work for Qatar well after the Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war, despite the nation’s ties to the terror group.

Urich, Feldstein and a third adviser to Netanyahu, Yisrael Einhorn, are suspected of multiple offenses tied to their alleged pro-Qatar lobbying, including contact with a foreign agent and a series of corrupt actions involving lobbyists and businessmen, all while working for the prime minister. The investigation has also expanded to cover business connections of former security officials to Qatar.